The other, Records, is a more realistic take and the area where the hardest of hardcore Total War fans will likely make their home. Romance provides a fun, higher drama version of events that skews more toward legend than to hard history. To be clear: these superheroics only seems to happen in Romance Mode, one of two specific modes of play. More than once, I watched in horror as one of my highest value units was torn to shreds by a single frenzied general. In what feels like a bit of a nod to Dynasty Warriors, that other long-running franchise about the Romance Era, generals are extremely powerful on the field, providing a nearly superhuman level of support to their troops. Players can also have their generals commit to a duel, a mini-fight that has your main hero charging down an enemy leader on horseback. If able to retreat to a safe distance, the spooked units will attempt to calm down and once done, will return to the fight. Squads that get surrounded or lose too many men too quickly will panic and attempt to flee the battle. Most troops, be they friend or foe, will fight until the odds are stacked well-and-truly against them. Once the battle commences, things enter a kind of slow-motion murder ballet. You get one chance to tilt the battle in your favour before it starts, a setup phase where any of your units can be moved around specific areas in an effort maximise your tactical output. Unlocking specialised units usually means picking specific unlocks from both the rank and skill tree. As your warlords gain experience and rank up, they’ll grant access to any specialised units that may unlock. Three Kingdoms makes a change to how units work, turning them into large groups of a particular troop type (archers, cavalry, et al).
When the battle commences, your warlord brings his own war boys to the yard.
In Total War, a leader who’s willing to get their hands dirty has long been considered The Way We Do Things Around Here. This, in my experience, is an option to be used sparingly. Money helps you keep your armies afloat and infamy will keep the political wolves at bay as simultaneous bids for power are made around the country.Īt this point, you’ve got two options - take control of the battle yourself and move into the RTS mode or, if you’re confident, delegate the running of the fight to one of your warlords. Every new piece of territory you take results in infamy and an injection of cash. Occupying or ransacking a town net different resources but either may be necessary depending on your approach. You’ll spend a lot of the campaign working on how best to tackle this. You can capture new territory by ordering your warlords to advance on land you don’t control, setting the stage for battle. This allows the player to set the difficulty of their campaign without really setting the difficulty at all.Įverything within the player’s sphere of influence, from farms and cities to unallocated resources, is under their direct control. No two warlords are completely alike, and the playing field is wildly uneven meaning some warlords begin the campaign at a severe disadvantage over others. Some are better at taxation and can squeeze greater income out of your various tributaries. Some warlords are better at whipping up morale and others are better talent scouts, able to recruit new retinues more easily. Each provides a different manner of play, either through broad mechanical changes or through simple passives or debuffs against enemy factions.
The business of turning the country around on your arguments is a time-consuming balancing act that calls for civic planning and political acumen as much as any head for war.Įach faction is headed up by a warlord, and there are a total of twelve to be opened up over the course of play. This would be no small feat today, let alone in times as divided as the one the game depicts. Single player and multiplayer skirmish matches remain, but the main draw (and apparent focus for the dev team) is the game’s campaign, which asks players to pick a faction and embark on a lengthy quest to unite China under their own, single banner. There’s a number of new ways to play in Three Kingdoms. Splitting the difference, as ever, between twin game modes comprised of RTS tactics and a Civilization style empire builder, Three Kingdoms is the kind of game that gives first-timers a headache and a giddy rush of new mechanics and setting for veterans. Its campaign broadly encompasses the story known as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a period when the Han Dynasty was on the wane, hurling the entire country into a bloody, 60-year war over control both national and provincial. Total War: Three Kingdoms steeps Creative Assembly’s venerable strategy franchise in Chinese history for the first time in its nearly 20 year run.
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